Temporary, Somehow

Temporary, Somehow follows Ukrainians building homes and routines in Britain while their future remains uncertain. Through intimate domestic photographs, it asks: when does a temporary place begin to feel like home?

Temporary, Somehow is a photographic project about Ukrainians living in the UK after fleeing the war. I am part of this story. In February 2022, during the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, my children and I experienced occupation and were forced to leave Ukraine. We arrived in Britain and began rebuilding our lives from the beginning, finding housing, furnishing a rented home, learning to drive, and adapting to a new language and culture while living with constant uncertainty about how long we are allowed to remain.

For the past four years, I have lived inside this condition of temporary settlement. I know the hesitation of buying new coffee cups for a rented kitchen and wondering whether they will one day be left behind. I know what it means to collect furniture, toys, cutlery, and books, building stability while understanding that everything may need to be packed again. As many Ukrainians say, “For someone here temporarily, I somehow have too much stuff.” This contradiction lies at the heart of the project.

Since 2022, more than 200,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK through emergency visa schemes, including around 60,000 children. Families work, study, open businesses, and raise children in British schools. Homes are furnished, routines are formed, and communities begin to grow.

The project focuses on five to six Ukrainian families living in Dorset, Devon, and London, including my own family. I visit them in the homes where they currently live, whether sponsored accommodation, council housing, or rented properties. We spend time together, talk over tea, and I photograph their everyday surroundings. The images show people within their living spaces and details such as wardrobes, kitchens, toy boxes, tables, mirrors, and windows. Ukrainian objects carried across borders, embroidered shirts, decorations, handmade items, appear quietly inside British homes.

Each family is accompanied by a short text drawn from our conversations and translated into English. One photograph per household includes me, acknowledging that this work grows from shared experience.

The project is being developed at a significant moment. In 2026, the first group of Ukrainian visa extensions approaches review, and many families remain uncertain about their long-term future in the UK. This timing adds urgency to exploring what it means to settle deeply while living with unresolved status.